Strontium Clock

If your alarm clock gained a second a day, you probably wouldn’t notice. It would take two months for it to gain a full minute. By scientific standards, however, your clock would be far too inaccurate. It would also be too inaccurate to time elite athletes, where races may be won by milliseconds. How can a clock be made that accurate?

Amazing but True!

Strontium is the answer. Strontium is an alkaline Earth metal in group II of the periodic table.

Like atoms of other alkaline Earth metals, atoms of strontium vibrate when struck by light. The vibrations occur millions of times each second.